The Power of His Presence

A couple of weeks ago, I served in the toddler room at church. The service was starting soon, so parents were rolling in to drop their kids off. I’ve learned that there are two types of toddlers at my church. The first type is the kids who get dropped off and immediately start playing with a toy or with their friends. They couldn’t care less what their parents are doing or where they’re going. The second type is the kids who scream and cry the second their parents leave. We try to distract them with toys and books, but all they care about is where their parents went and when they’re coming back. Eventually, we get these kids to calm down, but it takes a combination of toys, books, songs, and many (and I mean many) cups of Cheerios. When service is over, their parents come back and get them, we clean up the room, and we go about our day.

Last time, though, I noticed something. There was one specific kid who screamed and cried a little extra the last time I was there. I spent upwards of 20 minutes trying to get him to calm down. I was doing everything I could to distract him and make him feel better, and it worked. By the end of the morning, he was cruising around the playpen eating his cheerios without a care in the world. He was a completely different kid than when his parents first left. At this point, it seemed like he forgot he even had parents. Everything changed again, though, when his dad came back to pick him up. The kid had a book in one hand and his cheerios in the other. He hadn’t set the cheerios down since I gave them to him, but as soon as his dad walked in, his face lit up and he dropped the cheerios and the book like they were trash. He had no concern for those things anymore. He saw his dad, and he knew that’s where he wanted to be. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bigger smile on a kid's face. I’ve never seen that specific kid look more joyful. As soon as I saw that, all I could think of was God the Father, His love for us, and our relationship with Him. When we are actively sitting with God and communing with Him, we notice when we’re not in His presence. It feels sad, scary, and even hopeless. When I’m distant from the Lord, I feel like a kid waiting for their dad to come back. Eventually, though, we let the world distract us. For the kids, it's cheerios and toys. For us, it’s social media, relationships, parties, approval addiction, the list goes on and on. We get so distracted by those things that we almost forget what we had before and how much better it was. Being with their parents, who love them so deeply, is better for those kids than any toy could be. However, we surround them with so much stuff that they get lost in it and accept it as a placeholder for what they really want, which is the presence of their father. How often do we do this? We let the world immerse us in distraction and we fill our lives with counterfeits for what only God can offer. Next thing you know, we’re strolling around town with a death grip on our new boyfriend, our new friend group, our social media following, and our status like they’re the best things we’ve ever had. Those things will never satisfy the longing of our hearts. Eventually, the toys get old and the Cheerios run out. There comes a point where you’ve read every book and heard every story. What I mean is, boyfriends come and go, friend groups change, and followers fluctuate. Our Heavenly Father is the only constant. If we would just run back to God, the Cheerios would drop. Who cares about worldly things when I’m with my dad? Nothing else matters. If we would just run back to God, the longing would end. In this story, the kids’ parents leave them. It’s not for long and they’re still in the same building, but they are gone and the kids can’t get to them. God isn’t like that. He’s never gone. He never leaves. There will never be a time when I can’t run to God. The kids settle for distractions because, at the moment, it’s all they have. We have 24/7 access to God the Father. Why are we choosing to settle for less when we can be seated with Him?

Maybe you’ve felt a longing for God the Father recently. Maybe you know you’ve been settling for counterfeits when God is right in front of you with open arms. He’s reaching out to us; we just have to go to Him. Psalm 16:11 says that in His presence is the fullness of joy. His love is abundant, fulfilling, and grand. Romans 8:38 tells us that nothing can separate us from this extravagant love. It knows no bounds, and it never gives up on us (1 Corinthians 13:8). So what should we do? We should run to the Father, knowing that we will be received with open arms and that it will set us free. We should lay down worldly distractions and counterfeits to be with our Father, in whom we lack nothing (Psalm 23:1). We are complete only in Christ. We need Him. Let today be the day you acknowledge the voids that only God can fill and allow Him to do it.